Polite Society (2023) Movie Ending Explained: Be it the Netflix series Never Have I Ever or the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, several recent projects are bringing narratives of South Asian characters to the screen. While it may have made sense considering the increasing demand for inclusive work in Western audiences, it also fills the gap for many young individuals who feel represented due to these characters.
The British action comedy-drama film – ‘Polite Society,’ which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, falls in a similar category. It is a refreshing blend of several entertaining kinds of cinema. Be it the masala Bollywood movies or East Asian action flicks, Nida Manzoor’s directorial debut creates a relentlessly amusing blend of numerous styles. While the script falters as it progresses, the acting performances and peppy music tracks save the day.
Anyhow, in case you want to see two sisters beat the shit out of conventional cultural thinkers, Polite Society is a fantastic choice. There is some Edgar Wright-inspired editing, a Bollywood dance number, and some kickass action in this drama about two sisters.
Spoilers ahead.
Polite Society (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis
What is Polite Society about?
Polite Society is primarily about a teenager who wants to save her sister from getting stuck in a marriage against her will. The story is divided into different chapters.
Chapter 1: The Tale of Two Sisters
We meet Ria Khan (played by Priya Kansara), who refers to herself as ‘The Fury.’ She practices Martial Arts stunts in her room filled with posters of her idols. One of them is a movie starring the legendary Bruce Lee. However, a more prominent idol is stuntwoman Eunice Huthart.
Ria aspires to become like Eunice. She keeps writing letters to her, hoping to get a response someday. She also shoots videos of her stunts, expecting to get a gig. For that, she seeks help from her tomboyish older sister Lena (played by Ritu Arya, soon to be one of the Barbies in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie). Unfortunately, Lena has been lethargic since the time she returned from her art school education. Still, she does as much as she can for her sister.
At school, Ria and her friends – Clara (played by Seraphina Beh) and Alba (played by Ella Bruccoleri) get teased for their dorkiness. Still, these two friends are Ria’s biggest supporters of her desire to become a stuntwoman. Ms. Spence (played by Jenny Funnell) thinks otherwise. She believes Ria should aspire to have a noble profession like a doctor. She hints clearly at the South Asian stereotype, and Ria’s bully – Kovacs (played by Shona Babayemi), highlights it to the entire class and ends up ridiculing her.
Kovacs does not stop there. She continues to tease Ria even after the class. Due to their shared rage, a battle between Kovacs and Khan ensues. Kovacs takes the lead by effortlessly using her strength. Ria succeeds in inciting Kovacs and occasionally saves herself from a blow. Eventually, she recalls that ‘she is the fury’ and tries to perform a flying reverse spin kick. Sadly, she embarrasses herself in this attempt.
Ria returns home and practices her skills with Lena’s assistance. On the other hand, their mother, Fatima (played by Shobu Kapoor), goes to meet her group of friends, who chat about their sons and daughters. While other women have stories about being proud of their children, Fatima feels a bit embarrassed because of Lena being down-on-luck. She says that Lena is ‘weighing her options’ to mask that awkwardness. Raheela (played by Nimra Bucha) deceptively sees through her facade.
Back at the dinner table, it becomes a topic of discussion. While Lena feels dispirited for losing her ambition in art, her parents – Fatima and Rafe (played by Jeff Mirza), act as if she won a lottery by flunking on that aspiration. Rafe even proposes Lena start working as an accountant for a family friend’s office. The women unanimously reject that offer.
Besides that, the parents also do not value Ria’s dream. They don’t consider becoming a stuntwoman as a serious career option. Since Ria reacts against it, Fatima decides to divert the topic to Raheela’s Eid Soiree. She considers Fatima a good friend and wants the family to attend. Ria’s protests against it fail miserably.
Chapter 2: Eid Soiree
The Khans arrive at Raheela’s lavish villa and feel out of place right off the bat. The sisters walk in with their awkwardly put-on traditional suits. Raheela is particular in attracting attention to herself and flaunting how Salim (played by Akshay Khanna) is the most eligible bachelor. While young women from the community surround him, Ria sits at a distance with Jezah (played by Tia Dutt), who showers him with praise. She thinks he is a catch and is looking to settle.
While Jezah says she won’t mind Salim flirting with her, Ria finds it obnoxious to have her life revolve around a rich, spoiled man-child. She walks around to find Raheela caring for Salim as if he is a kid. Ria soon walks into a room to find a table filled with young women’s photos. One of them is Lena’s. Seeing that, Ria panics and rushes out to find her sister. She notices Lena talking with Salim, with Raheela standing on the side.
The next day, Ria learns that Lena has already decided to go on a date with Salim. Lena also dresses to impress him, which Ria finds incredibly odd. She does not want her sister to fall into the trap of an arranged marriage. She looks with rage from her window while Lena walks into Salim’s car. The couple has a heart-to-heart during their dinner date.
Salim talks about his commitment to his mother, who raised him. Lena talks about her art school education not working out. He sways her mind to think that ‘what one does’ need not define one’s identity. She feels it liberating at the moment but does not realize it is his way of manipulating her into feeling marital responsibilities are her only duties.
Since Lena keeps going out with Salim, Ria gets increasingly enraged. She can’t understand why her sister is not pursuing her passion. Alas, it gives her a boost to pursue hers. She practices relentlessly to hone her martial arts skills to seek revenge against Salim and Raheela – for stealing her sister and her ambition. She also writes about it to Eunice. Soon after, she returns home to find out that Salim and Lena got engaged.
Chapter 3: Operation Wifehunter
Ria believes that Salim is manipulating Lena by using her sadness. So, she plans to break Lena’s marriage with this wife-hunting maniac. She initially decides to use diplomacy to make her father rethink the decision. But Rafe is too convinced by his investment-return equation that he even considers his daughter as an asset.
Fatima thinks Ria is being too dramatic about Lena’s marriage and is acting up because she is going to lose her dear sister. Finally, Ria speaks with Lena about it, hoping to change her mind. Ria reveals that she is going to move to Singapore after the wedding. She looks at it as a good thing for her since she does not think she has much of a life in Britain anyway. The lack of support for her art career has crushed her spirits of having a life outside of this marriage.
So, Ria decides to take Clara and Alba’s help with further steps. They plan to find dirt on Salim by breaking into his locker. Ria enters in disguise with a fake wig and mustache. She gets hold of Salim’s laptop and hands it over to her friends, hoping to whistle-blow the man’s probable offenses.
Meanwhile, Ria keeps a watch on Salim so that he won’t catch them snooping. He stops his practice early and starts walking back. In that state of panic, she takes out her disguise and pretends to be there for a Zumba class. She keeps him busy while her friends copy the data from his hard drive.
Ria brings up the topic of how he and Raheela looked at a number of women before choosing Lena. He mentions how he is acting as per his mother’s wishes since she has sacrificed so much for him. Sensing Ria’s doubt, he assures her that he will keep Lena safe. Since Ria is caught up in this dialogue, Alba walks into the locker room in disguise and keeps the laptop in Salim’s locker.
Back at home, Lena confronts Ria for meeting her partner. They have a full-on rageful fight like wrestlers. Their parents, meanwhile, sit back in the kitchen, eating their food. They think it is just their usual dispute.
The fight soon turns ugly when they knock each other on walls and bite into each other. While groaning in pain, they also emotionally hurt each other. Ria does not want Lena to give up on her art and marry a man who considers her kind. Lena says that she has already given up on it. That breaks Ria’s heart.
Chapter 4: Assault on Shah Mansion
Besides Lena, Ria’s friends also give up helping her and think she is delusional for thinking there is a conspiracy. Still, Ria is certain about it and, thus, decides to sneak into Raheela’s house to plant some evidence against Salim. Instead, she finds a box under his bed that shows a photo of him being married to some other woman.
Raheela catches Ria in the room, and then the entire family questions her about it. Ria shows the photo, and Salim gets emotional, saying it is his ex-wife, Huda, who died tragically during labor. Lena already knew about it. She accuses Ria of needlessly sabotaging her marriage.
After this, Lena starts spending more time at Salim’s place. Raheela notices that Lena’s period is heavy and offers her some iron supplements. She also says that she need not feel shy speaking about her body. On the other hand, Ria starts feeling increasingly lonely. Fatima tells her to go to Raheela’s place with some peace offering to apologize.
Ria goes there, scared. To her surprise, Raheela invites her for a spa day. She soon makes Ria get waxed against her will. While Ria goes through that struggle, Raheela says that Lena is the perfect one for her son. She also says that she will go against anyone who comes in her way of doing so.
Ria fights her way out of the room. Then, she combats the women who followed her. She eventually reaches a basement with several doors and enters a room. She finds an entire lab dedicated to young women’s fertility data. It mentions Lena as an ‘ideal host.’ The moment Ria sees it, she breaks open the window and runs back to her house. Raheela manically laughs, seeing her run away.
Lena and the Khans still do not believe in Ria about her theory about Salim’s secret job and labs. So, she decides to approach her recently distanced friends to tell them about what she found in Salim’s house. Clara and Alba decide to join hands to fight against Salim.
Chapter 5: The Wedding
Ria, Clara, and Alba devise a plan together. Then, they persuade Kovacs to drive them to the wedding to rescue Lena. While hesitant at first about stealing the car from the father, she eventually agrees in exchange for an academic bribe.
While Lena gets all dolled up for the wedding, Ria distracts the guests with an elaborate dance performance on the Bollywood track – Hara Rang Dala. Raheela gets angry that Ria went there before the time she was supposed to. Meanwhile, Clara and Alba sneak in disguised as waiters. They get past the armed guard at Lena’s door, chloroform Lena, hide her inside a tea trolley, and sneak her out.
Raheela enters Lena’s room to find she is missing. Fatima and Ria follow her. Raheela lets everyone go out except Ria and closes the door. She tries to choke Ria for sabotaging the picture-perfect marriage. Despite her persuasion, Ria does not budge and shares nothing about Lena’s whereabouts. After their fight, Raheela tapes Ria to a chair. She locks her, Clara, and Alba inside the room.
Polite Society (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
How does Ria escape the Bridal suite?
While Ria, Clara, and Alba are stuck in the bridal suite, Kovacs reaches there at the right time to bust open the door and help them escape. Severely dizzy, Lena is brought back to the wedding. Ria walks into the hall with a gun and terrifies everyone by shooting bullets in the air. She reveals Raheela and Salim’s plan to impregnate Lena with a clone of Raheela.
Does Ria manage to prove Salim and Raheels’s evil plan?
Raheela and Salim try to make a joke out of Ria. However, Lena starts having flashbacks of being drugged and experimented on by the mother and the son. Salim also admits that his first wife died carrying his mother’s clone. Raheela does not want to let this situation go out of control and, thus, seizes the gun. By then, the Khans get enraged by this evil plan. So, Fatima hits Raheela with a chair and tells her daughters to run away.
Do Ria and Lena manage to escape the wedding?
Ria and Lena fight the women fighting from Raheela’s side. Their parents also join the fight to support them. Alba decides to use Lena’s veil to make people think she is Lena while the sisters can sneak out. While they succeed in doing so, Raheela waits for them right outside.
Salim grabs Lena from the back while Ria fights with Raheela. She finally masters a reverse spinning kick and defeats Raheela. Lena starts kicking Salim. Before the police could arrive, the sisters drive off.
Do Ria and Lena get over their differences?
The sisters reconcile while having burgers, fries, and milkshakes at a diner. Lena praises how Ria has mastered her skill. She then helps Ria get the kick recorded on video so she can put it on her YouTube channel. Right then, Ria receives an encouraging email from Eunice. It gives a chance for the sisters to celebrate something together.
